Mexico simplifies regulation for Trion deepwater development

Potential partners of Mexico’s state oil firm Pemex in the Trion block have had the rules loosened by Mexican regulator CNH (Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos), according to Bloomberg.

CNH has tried to sweeten the pot by changing a requirement that a minimum of two companies had to form a consortium before bidding in tandem to jointly develop the Trion with Pemex.

The new tweak of rules, though, allows a single company to bid by itself to become Pemex’s joint venture partner in the project.

The Trion is a deepwater field believed to contain around 480m barrels of oil equivalent worth about $11bn. It is located in the Perdido Fold Belt near the country’s maritime border with the US in the Gulf of Mexico.

In late September CNH attempted to make bidding more appealing reducing Pemex’s set stake in a group from 45% to 40%.

CNH says the final contract terms for the Trion JV will be revealed in two weeks and the licence will be awarded on December 5.

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.